University of Louisville
Faculty Senate Meeting
February 6, 2013
The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on February 6, 2013 at 3:00 P.M. in Chao Auditorium in the Ekstrom Library, on Belknap Campus, Joseph Steffen presiding.
Senators Registering Attendance
A&S –Annette Allen, David Brown, Jasmine Farrier, Mary Makris, John McLeod, David Simpson, Joseph Steffen, Elaine Wise,Wendy Yoder CoB – Robert Barker, Ben Foster,Bruce Kemelgor, Robert Myers DENTISTRY –Ricardo Caicedo, Don Demuth, Robert Staat EDUCATION – Roger Buskill, Daya Sandhu,Tom Simmons KENT – Sharon Bowland, Martin Hall,Wanda Lott Collins LAW – David Ensign, Enid Trucios-Haynes LIBRARIES – Gail Gilbert, Margo Smith MEDICINE – Richard Downs, Pamela Feldhoff, Lawrence Hunt, Saeed Jortani, Sham Kakar, Nobuyuki Kuwabara, Steven Nakajima MUSIC –Dror Biran, Krista Wallace-Boaz NURSING –Valerie McCarthy, Karen Sullivan PART-TIME – Joe Gutmann, Rose Mills, Susan Peacock, John Ritz PUBLIC HEALTH – Ray Austin , Scott LaJoie
Also Attending -
Ex Officio: Shirley Willihnganz, Carrie Mattingly
Others: Robert Fox, Tracy Eells, J.P. Mohsen, Bob Stenger, Gretchen Henry, recording secretary
Press: Janene Zaccone (U of L Today)
Senators Not Registering Attendance -
A&S – Dawn Heinecken, Ron Sahoo DENTISTRY – Dave WillisEDUCATION – Marion Hambrick LAW – Kurt MetzmeierLIBRARIES – Terri Holtze MEDICINE – Forest Arnold, Brad Keller, Steven Myers MUSIC – Ansyn Banks NURSING – Diane Chlebowy PART-TIME – Laneshia McCord, Michael Wade SPEED – Suraj Alexander, Bruce Alphenaar, Nageshwar Bhaskar, Roger Bradshaw
ACTION: Consideration of the Minutes
The minutes of the January 9, 2013 meeting were unanimously approved as distributed.
REPORT: Staff Senate – Ginger Brown
The Staff Senate does not meet in January. There was no report made.
REPORT: Libraries Dean – Robert Fox
Soon after Dean Fox came to UofL 2 years ago, he developed the Libraries Strategic Plan to match the University’s plan. He focused the plan on three key areas: the libraries’ relationships with users; its collections; and, its spaces. To address the needs of its users, surveys were conducted for faculty and both undergraduate and graduate students. Results from the survey are that a student advisory board was populated in spring 2012; Archives & Special Collections were merged onto one floor; partnered with a consortium to share collections; added 500 new electrical outlets throughout the libraries; updating the 4th floor in Ekstrom for more quiet study space; replace the furniture in the music library’s public spaces; improved lighting in the art library; created a new reading room in Kornhauser; and, more shelving was added to Archives.
The biggest hurdle is the budget and how the cuts affect everything the library does. Tracking journal usage helps determine which subscriptions are not renewed. A brief discussion took place on the world of scholarly publishing. Dean Fox plans to engage the FSCOL in scholarly publishing issues.
REPORT: University Provost – Dr. Shirley Willihnganz
President Ramsey is in Frankfort today. Dr. Willihnganz reported that letters to committee members for the 5 21st Century Initiative have gone out. It seems that most of the SWOT responses fell along the same lines: STRENGHS are our people, shared governance, academics and research; WEAKNESSES mostly fall under finances: disparity in salaries, living wage, budget cuts. Also, cultural issues between campuses was a big one, as well as confusion on the university’s priorities; OPPORTUNITIES that many addressed were that the move to the ACC is seen as a good thing, but Athletics brings some cynicism with it, the healthcare partnership is seen as a great opportunity, the BEAM project with UK and Speed School is good for us. Provost Willihnganz then went on to mention that the Celebration of Teaching and Learning is this Friday and The Chronicle of Higher Education is coming to look SIGS. She then updated the Senate on the administrative searches and reviews: Deans for SIGS and Public Health have been hired; CoB committee is meeting with a candidate; others are on hold until later; reviews for Kent, Nursing and Dentistry all recommended renewing the current contracts; reports to come for Music, and IT. With all the budget cuts and increase in necessities, we now have to creative in how we cut and save: the Voluntary Separation Program, which could possibly generate a savings of $2.8M, will be presented to the Board of Trustees for approval; the Procurement Committee is looking at different ways in ordering supplies that could possibly save us $750,000 in the first year.
REPORT: Student Government Association – Carrie Mattingly
Ms. Mattingly reported that she is on the agenda for each unit’s faculty assembly meetings to discuss the A+ grading system. The Undergraduate Council met and chose to not extend the drop/withdrawal date across the units, though CoB did extend theirs. The topping off ceremony for the new student rec center was held today and was very nice. SGA elections are going on this week.
REPORT: Standing Committee Reports
Academic Programs Committee (APC)- This committee did not meet.
Committee on Committees and Credentials (CCC)- This committee did not meet.
Libraries Committee (FSCOL)- This report was available online.
Part-time Faculty Committee (PTFC)-This committee did not meet.
Planning & Budget Committee (P&B)- This report was sent in late and will be posted tomorrow.
Redbook & Bylaws Committee (RB)- This committee did not meet.
Executive Committee (XC)- This report was available online.
University-Wide Committee Reports – Available Online
- Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) – Senator Trucios-Haynes announced that the PATHWAYS Women’s’ Leadership Conference will be held on Shelby Campus on May 17th.
- Commission on Diversity & Racial Equality (CODRE) – The faculty representative to this committee, J.P. Mohsen, reported that the CODRE committee is offering research funds to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Chair’s Report – Joseph Steffen
- From the Compliance Oversight Council: The Conflict of Interest form will be available online in March.
- The Sustainability Committee reported that UofL has been named a TREE Campus by the STAR rating system.
- Chair Steffen and Vice Chair Feldhoff met with President Ramsey to discuss the ACC and the idea to expand the summer session.
- In an effort to determine the number of faculty awards, Chair Steffen has communicated with each dean to gather this information. The deans will pass the request down through their units.
- Using the SWOT questionnaire as a model, Chair Steffen created a questionnaire on the summer session and sent it out to A&S faculty. He has not reviewed the A&S responses yet. He also met with CEHD Dean Haselton, who agreed to let the faculty participate. Chair Steffen said that the students still need to take the survey to measure their interest.
Old Business
None
New Business
None
Announcements
- SIGS is hosting a workshop “The Academic Job Market” on February 13th in the Chao. Flyers available at today’s sign-in table.
- The Faculty Senate will meet again on March 6, 2013 at 3 p.m. in the Chao Auditorium.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Gretchen Stein Henry
Faculty Senate Secretary